System and method for scrolling through TV video icons by category

ABSTRACT

In a TV displaying thumbnails of videos grouped by genre, genre labels are shown so that a user can conveniently move genre to genre with a single click on a remote control device.

This is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/725,840, filed Mar. 19, 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for scrollingtrough TV-presented video icons by category.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many modern audio/video delivery systems possess the ability to eitherview or electronically record and store data such as videos andtelevision shows that are often provided by a user's television contentprovider or by an Internet provider through an Internet adapterconnected to the TV. The user may either view the data immediately oraccess electronically stored data at a later time. A user may wish toview the data at a later time for a number of reasons. For instance, auser may desire to view a television show that is broadcast late atright and the user would find it more convenient to watch the showduring the day. In order to browse through incoming and stored data, theuser may be required to scroll through lists of the recorded videos whentrying to identify the specific data the user wants to access.

Scrolling involves a selection process whereby an indicator or cursormoves from one piece of data to another (in the present context, fromone video icon or thumbnail to another), highlighting a particularselection. While scrolling, if the highlighted selection is chosen theaudio/visual delivery, system will produce that data for viewing. Asintimated above, the packages of data (e.g. videos) that a user mayscroll through are often represented by thumbnail images that allow theuser to identify particular data through a single image. For example,there may be a list of thumbnails representing previously airedtelevision or Internet programs that the system has saved in its memory.The thumbnails may be scrolled through by controlling a cursor usingselection keys, such as up and down arrows embodied on a remote control,until the cursor highlights the television program the user wishes toview. The user then selects this television program for viewing and thesystem produces the data through a television set.

Currently, a user must scroll though each thumbnail separately whilebrowsing an entire list of thumbnails. The data represented bythumbnails are often grouped together according to certain criteria,e.g. grouped according to the genre (category) of the televisionprogram. Presently, a user wishing to view available data groupedtogether under one category must scroll through all preceding groups ofthumbnails grouped under preceding categories. This can be timeconsuming, and inconvenient to users who wish to skip directly tothumbnails grouped under a user-desired category. The present inventionprovides a method for a user to skip entire groups of thumbnails withouthaving to browse through thumbnails associated with a different criteriafirst, thereby reaching the desired group of thumbnails more quickly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a TV displaying thumbnails of videos grouped by genre, genre labelsare displayed and a user is enabled to move a screen cursor from a firstgenre label to a second genre label with a single click on a remotecontrol device.

The above logic may be executed by a processor within a TV, or by aprocessor within an Internet adapter coupled to a TV, or by otherprocessors.

In one implementation, a first genre includes plural rows of thumbnailspresented on the displays and a first genre label is presented at thebeginning of an initial row of thumbnails associated with the firstgenre. Also a second genre label is presented at the beginning of aninitial row of thumbnails associated with the second genre. It is to beunderstood that equivalently, the label can be placed at the end of arow, and/or that instead of rows the thumbnails can be arranged incolumns and the genre label placed at the top or bottom of the column.

In non-limiting embodiments, if the screen cursor is positioned over afirst thumbnail in a row of thumbnails and a “down” key is manipulatedon the remote control device, the cursor moves to a second thumbnailbelow the first thumbnail, skipping a partial row if no thumbnail is inthe partial row between the first and second thumbnails, and if thescreen cursor is positioned over the first thumbnail in a row ofthumbnails and a “left” key is manipulated on the remote control device,the cursor moves to the genre label, if any, in the row, with asubsequent manipulation of a “down” key causing the cursor to move to asucceeding genre label, skipping any rows of thumbnails between the rowsof the genre labels. A video stream can be invoked by moving the cursorover a thumbnail and appropriately manipulating the remote controldevice. In one display aspect, one and only one row per genre label isdisplayed.

In another aspect, a TV system includes a TV display and a processorsending images to the display. An image can include plural iconsrepresenting respective videos, and the image can also show first andsecond video genre indicators. A remote control manipulable by a personcan cause a cursor on the display to move from the first video genreindicator to the second video genre indicator, skipping any rows oficons between the genre indicators.

In yet another aspect, video thumbnails grouped by genre are presentedon a TV. A genre indicator is presented with each group of thumbnails,and a user is permitted to move a cursor from one genre indicator toanother genre indicator with a single click of a remote such that anythumbnails displayed between the indicators are skipped.

The details of the present invention, both as to its structure andoperation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and inwhich:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a non-limiting system in accordance withpresent principles;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of non-limiting logic in accordance with presentprinciples; and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are non-limiting TV screen shots of thumbnails inaccordance with present principles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Beginning with FIG. 1, a system is shown, generally designated 10, whichincludes one or more multimedia display systems 11, each having aprocessor 12 and data storage 14 that may be implemented one or pluraldisks, or other storage that can hold multimedia streams. Further, thedisplay system 11 may include a volatile non-limiting memory unit 16.The volatile non-limiting memory unit 16 may include any hardwareassociated with active computer memory, e.g. RAM memory that is utilizedby the digital multimedia source system 11 itself to perform variousfunctions.

The multimedia display system 11 can be a digital multimedia sourcedevice that outputs audio/video files. For example, the multimediadisplay system 11 may be a digital video disk (DVD) player that canoutput digital multimedia conforming to the High Definition MultimediaInterface (HDMI) standard or other standards. Or, the display system 11may be another source of multimedia such as an Internet adapter, inwhich the processor 12 executes a browser to access the Internet and toprovide the videos for display on the below-described TV. Yet again thedisplay system 11 may be implemented as a set-top box, a game consolesuch as but not limited to Sony Playstation 3, etc.

In any case, as shown the digital multimedia source device 11communicates with a TV 17 having a TV display, 18 and audio speakers 20for presenting audio/video programs. It is to be understood that the TV17 typically includes its own TV processor 17 a with associated computerstorage medium 17 b such as disk or solid state storage, and that thesource device 11 may be implemented in the same housing as the TV 17 ormay be housed separately therefrom and communicates with the TV througha wired or wireless path. The TV processor 17 a or another processor mayundertake the below logic including grouping video stressors (and theirrespective icons/thumbnails) by genre.

Also, a remote control 22 is shown which communicates with the digitalmultimedia source device 11 and/for TV 17 wirelessly such as throughinfrared or radio waves. Further, the remote control 22 has a keypad 24which is used to input user commands. Generally, the remote control 22allows the user to remotely issue commands to the system 10, e.g, tocommand the system 10 to present a particular audio/video data stream onthe display 18.

Moving to FIG. 2, the logic for scrolling through audio/video data basedon genre is shown. Beginning at optional block 26, while the presentlogic for scrolling by genre can be automatically invoked, in someimplementations the user may be given the option of initiating the genreselection process by choosing to browse available streams of data basedon the particular genre each stream of data is associated with. A genreis generally understood to be a class or category of streams of video.The selection can be made by means of an initial screen that asks theuser to select whether to browse from one genre to the next, or whetherto browse from thumbnail to thumbnail.

Moving to block 28, the logic sorts available streams of data accordingto the appropriate genre associated with each one, it being understoodthat the sorting can be done beforehand. Typically, when a user'saudio/visual content provider (e.g. Direct TV, or the Internet when thesource 11 is an Internet adapter) sends a stream of data which the usermay then access, the stream of data that is sent includes metadata fromwhich the category or genre of the video can be determined. However, thegenre that is assigned to a particular stream of data is not to belimited to one particular method and may be determined plural ways.

Moving to block 30 the logic presents on the TV groups thumbnails orother icons representing respective videos, with the grouping being doneaccording to the genre of the underlying videos. At block 32, the logicreceives a command from the user and at decision diamond 34, the logicproceeds based on the user's command. If the user commands the logic toskip the genre of streams of data currently presented and move to thenext genre of available streams of data by, e.g., selecting “browse bygenre” at block 26 and then manipulating an up or down cursor controlerror key, the logic moves to block 36 where the cursor moves to thefirst thumbnail of the next genre. Equivalently, only thumbnailsrepresenting video in the next genre may be presented to the user.

On the other hand, if the user commands the logic to remain on thecurrent genre to browse videos in the current genre by, e.g., selecting“browse video by video” at block 26 or by selecting “browse by genre” atblock 26 but then manipulating a left or right cursor control key, thelogic flows to block 38 to move the cursor to the next thumbnail in thecurrent row.

One non-limiting method for scrolling through thumbnails or genres fromwhich to browse may be through utilization of a mobile cursormanipulated through the keypad 24. A cursor used in this manner may besimilar in mobility to that of a personal computer cursor that ismanipulated through a mouse. When scrolling through thumbnails orgenres, a user's manipulation of the keypad 24 causes the cursor tohighlight different thumbnails or genres. Further, to view thehighlighted genre or thumbnails the user may additionally be required toselect the highlighted thumbnail or genre through another key on thekeypad 24 such as a select key.

Referring to FIG. 3, a 4×3 arrangement of thumbnails is shown aspresented on the TV display 18 with a genre name at the beginning ofeach line that starts a new genre, it being understood that icons otherthan thumbnails can be used to represent respective video streamsavailable for viewing. Shown below the display 18 in FIG. 3 arethumbnails and genre titles that are in memory bit are not displayedon-screen and thus are not currently visible to the TV viewer, althoughthey are available to the viewer if he scrolls down to them.

In FIG. 3, the highlighted thumbnail 40 indicates that the displaycursor is over the thumbnail 40 and thus that the screen presentation isfocused on the thumbnail 40. If the user presses a “select” key theunderlying video stream will be rendered (e.g., if the thumbnail 40represents a movie, the movie is played).

The user can navigate around the screen by pressing the left, right, up,and down keys on the remote 22 shown in FIG. 1. Pressing the “right” keycauses the focus to move to the thumbnail just to the right of thethumbnail 40. In contrast, pressing the down key causes the focus tomove to the thumbnail just below the thumbnail 40 as indicated by thearrow 42. Likewise, when the focus (cursor) is on a thumbnail 41 underwhich there is no thumbnail in the next sequential row and the down keyis pressed, the focus skips a line as indicated by the arrow 43 to moveto a thumbnail more than one row away from the thumbnail 41.

In accordance with the present invention, pressing the “left” key whenthe cursor is on a leftmost thumbnail 44 in a row causes the focus toshift to that row's genre label 46, instead of to another thumbnail. Ifthe “down” key is then pressed, the cursor moves to the next genre 48,as indicated by the arrow 50, such that the user can move genre to genrewith a single “up” or “down” key click. Consequently, in the case wherethere are many thumbnails within a genre, this inventive feature reducesthe number of times the down key must be pressed to get to the nextgenre, and provides a more random-access (versus serial) way ofnavigating through the thumbnails. It may now appreciated that when thecursor is over the “sports” genre 48 and the “down” key is once againmanipulated on the remote 22, the “movie” genre shifts on to the display18 with the top row of the movie genre being the new top row presentedon the display 18.

FIG. 4 shows an alternate on-screen implementation that may he used.Each genre 52 initially gets at most a single row 54 of icons on thedisplay 18 that represent videos falling within the genre, with theremaining (unshown) thumbnails in each genre row conceptually to theright of the presented thumbnails. In this case when the user scrollsleft and the focus moves to a genre label 52, the user can convenientlymove genre to genre with a single “down” (or “up”) key click.

If the user presses the “right” key on the remote 22 so that the focusmoves right from a genre label 52 to a thumbnail, then the on-screendisplay could assume the configuration of FIG. 3 to show more than asingle row of thumbnails per genre.

Thus, the arrangement of thumbnails in FIGS. 3 and 4 may both be used inthe system, switching between the two styles of layout depending onwhere the focus/cursor is. The arrangement of thumbnails as shown inFIG. 3 may be used for instance, when the focus/cursor is on athumbnail. When the focus/cursor is moved to be on a genre in FIG. 3,however, the screen display can switch to that shown in FIG. 4. Thisarrangement has the advantage of showing a genre name for each row onthe screen—thus the user can see more genre names at once. As statedabove in relation to FIG. 4, even though there may be more than enoughthumbnails to fill a row for a given genre, only one row is shown. Whenthe user moves the focus/cursor off the genre and onto the thumbnails,the arrangement of thumbnails can then switch back to the arrangement ofFIG. 3, which provides a better random access for items within a genrethan FIG. 4.

While the particular SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SCROLLING THROUGH TV VIDEOICONS BY CATEGORY is herein shown and described in detail, it is to beunderstood that the subject matter which is encompassed by the presentinvention is limited only by the claims.

1. A method comprising: presenting video thumbnails on a TV, thethumbnails being grouped by genre; presenting a genre indicator witheach group of thumbnails; permitting a user to move a cursor from onegenre indicator to another genre indicator with a single click of aremote such that any thumbnails displayed between the indicators areskipped; displaying a first arrangement of thumbnails including a firstgenre including plural rows or columns of thumbnails and a first genrelabel presented at the beginning or end of an initial row of thumbnailsassociated with the first genre or at the top or bottom of an initialcolumn associated with the first genre, a second genre label beingpresented at the beginning or end of an initial row or column ofthumbnails associated with a second genre; and responsive to apredetermined cursor movement, displaying a second arrangement showingat least one genre label and for each genre label one and only one rowor column of thumbnails.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein if the cursoris positioned over a first thumbnail in a row of thumbnails and a “down”key is manipulated on the remote control device, the cursor moves to asecond thumbnail below the first thumbnail, skipping a partial row if nothumbnail is in the partial row between the first and second thumbnails,and if the cursor is positioned over the first thumbnail in a row ofthumbnails and a “left” key is manipulated on the remote control device,the cursor moves to the genre label, if any, in the row, with asubsequent manipulation of a “down” key causing the cursor to move to asucceeding genre label, skipping any rows of thumbnails between the rowsof the genre labels.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein a video streamcan be invoked by moving the cursor over an thumbnail and appropriatelymanipulating the remote.